UPDATE: Angela Webb says she acted out of fear

Wednesday

CANTON Angela Webb took the stand Wednesday morning and explained how and why she shot her husband multiple times after concealing two loaded guns in her coat pocket out of fear.

Webb testified for more than two hours before Judge Frank Forchione. She is on trial in Stark County Common Pleas Court on charges of attempted murder and felonious assault.

Defense attorney Laura Mills asked questions about Webb's relationship with her husband, Anthony, whom she met in 1997 when she was 16. Emotional and physical abuse began a year or two after they started dating, she said.

When asked why she stayed, Webb became emotional. "Because I loved him," she said, her voice breaking as she spoke.

Abusive past

Webb said her husband is "easily angered" and had threatened to kill her at least twice during their more than 20-year relationship. He also told her to kill herself on numerous occasions, Webb said.

The first time Webb said she tried to leave her husband was May 2016. She took her two young nieces she has raised to a domestic violence shelter where they stayed for 10 days.

Webb dyed and cut her hair, changed her phone number and bought a different car because she said she was afraid her husband would come after her. She returned to her husband after the 10 days because of her daughter, now 21.

Outside of the staff at the domestic violence shelter, Webb never reported the abuse to any friends, family or law enforcement officials until the day of the shooting, Jan. 19, she said.

Webb said she was embarrassed to tell her coworkers and did not have any friends because Anthony Webb would not let her, she said.

"He would tell me what to do, where to go, who to be around."

The couple filed for divorce in 2016. However, Webb returned before the divorce was finalized. One reason, Webb said, was because Anthony Webb was granted custody of the children.

The confrontation

Throughout the week of Jan. 19, Webb concealed clothing and other personal items inside trash bags. Those bags were found outside of their Hudson Drive SW residence when law enforcement officials arrived, according to photographs from the investigation.

Earlier that day, she hid firearms inside the residence, Webb said during her testimony. She put a small handgun in a dresser drawer of a child's bedroom and another she described as a "machine gun"wrapped in a blanket behind the couch in the living room.

When Anthony Webb came home that day, Angela Webb said, the couple argued over allowing one of their adult daughters to borrow the car. Anthony Webb punched Angela Webb in the back of the head, Angela Webb said. He also threw her to the ground and wrapped his hands around her neck, she said.

After the argument, Anthony Webb went into the garage to play video games on his cellphone, Angela Webb said. She left to drop the two young girls off at her daughter's house before heading to the Navarre Police Department.

Prior to Webb's testimony, Capt. Chad Shetler, of the Navarre Police Department, said he spoke with Webb approximately 12 minutes at the station where he noticed red markings on her throat.

"With her statements to me and the markings I observed, yes, I associated that with a domestic situation," Shetler said.

Shetler provided Webb with multiple options since she lived in Bethlehem Township, which is outside the village's boundaries, advising she should not return to her residence. He suggested she wait for a Stark County sheriff's deputy to escort her home or to have a deputy meet her at the residence.

Webb, however, declined, stating she "could handle herself," Shetler said, adding he did not perceive the statement as a threat toward Anthony Webb.

The shooting

According to Anthony Webb's testimony Tuesday, Angela Webb pointed the gun at his face while he was making coffee in the kitchen. After a struggle, he placed the 9 mm pistol on the kitchen counter while Angela Webb ran outside to retrieve the .410 revolver.

As soon as she appeared in the doorway, she shot him twice, Anthony Webb said.

Angela Webb gave a different version, saying the 9 mm pistol went off while she and her husband were struggling on the kitchen floor. Webb was able to get away from her husband, who she said chased after her into the living room.

Angela Webb, who had her concealed carry permit, contended she aimed at her husband's elbow to slow him down, she said. When he continued to come at her, she shot him in the stomach. She then fled to a neighbor's house where she called 911, Webb said.

Recounting Jan. 19

Assistant Stark County Prosecutor Richard Nicodemo played a video-recorded interview of Webb talking with a sheriff's deputy. In the clip, Webb is asked about a history of violence with her husband. "He hit me a couple of times," she responds.

Nicodemo said that statement contradicts the image of years of abuse Webb testified about earlier.

"I was being bullied, and they didn't want to listen to anything I had to say," Webb said. " ... I felt hopeless."

Nicodemo pointed out differences in multiple statements Webb provided throughout the case, including the mention of an argument over insurance money.

Webb responded that there was an argument over insurance money her husband received after their pool at their previous Massillon address had been damaged, money Angela Webb was not told about.

At one point in the video interview, Webb said she had the guns "way before he (Anthony Webb) came home from work."

"I was not myself," Webb said regarding the recorded initial interview with deputies. "I was in shock, and I was worried about my husband."

After Webb completed her testimony, James R. Eisenberg, a forensic psychologist based in Mansfield, testified on his analysis of Webb after talking with her twice and reviewing police reports and other documents from the case.

Women affected by the syndrome often exhibit a feeling of hopelessness, shame, embarrassment and lack of self esteem, Eisenberg said.

Mills asked Eisenberg if it was common for battered women to have disjointed memory or describe events out of order. Eisenberg, who has been involved in 30 to 40 domestic violence cases, said it is common. He did not note what he considered major inconsistencies, adding that she was "remarkably consistent" in the two occasions he spoke with her.